They were caught on August 6, 2013 and later pleaded guilty to drug smuggling before being handed a six-year, eight-month sentence each.

Now legal sources in Lima have described the women’s chances as “extremely good” of being set free after the country recently allowed overseas prisoners to apply for expulsion to help ease chronic overcrowding.

The two women, both 22, had both applied for a transfer back to the UK under the Prisoner Transfer Agreement which has existed between the UK and Peru since March 7, 2003.

Michaella with Melissa Reid from Scotland

British authorities agreed to the move which needed to be sanctioned by the head of the Peru’s prison system in Lima.

But a series of strikes and court backlog delayed the potential move which would have seen them serve the rest of their sentences in prisons close to their families.

However if their expulsion is granted it would see the women freed immediately, deported back to the UK and banned from entering Peru again.

A source in Lima told us: “The conditions in their prison are horrendous. Women are sleeping sometimes 12 to a cell that was designed for eight.

“The Government have said foreign prisoners can be expelled as long as they never return. It is designed to ease the burden on the prisons.

“The two Brits would be much better off being expelled than transferred as that way the will not have to serve out the rest of their sentence.”

Currently the pair are being held in the notorious Ancon 2 jail where thye had taken up beauty therapy in a bid to end their Peruvian jail hell.

The Scottish Prison Service gave their agreement in principle to a transfer last year and Reid has been awaiting approval from the Peruvian authorities, who need to consent to her serving the remainder of her sentence under Scots law.

The repatriation of McCollum to Northern Ireland was approved by Stormont’s justice minister in January but, like Reid, the case has been held up.

Both had previously been held at Virgen de Fatima prison but were later moved to the Ancon 2 jail, where conditions are said to be cramped, with poor sanitation and toilet facilities.